Abe's cabinet approves draft security bills for greater SDF role

2015-05-14

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks at a press conference following a cabinet meeting which approved a legislative package on national security, at his official residence in Tokyo on May 14, 2015. The Cabinet of Japan on Thursday approved a legislative package on national security which will allow the Self-Defense Forces to fight abroad, marking a major change to Japan's post-war exclusively defense-oriented security policy. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

TOKYO, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Cabinet of Japan on Thursday approved a legislative package on national security which will allow the Self-Defense Forces to fight abroad, marking a major change to Japan's post-war exclusively defense-oriented security policy.

The package, including a permanent bill on international peace assistance and other comprising revisions to 10 existing laws, will remove geographical restrictions on where the SDF can operate, and under certain conditions allow Japan to defend its security ally for the first time since the end of the WWII.

So far, the government has been required to enact a special law each time it wants to dispatch the SDF for overseas logistical support. After the enactment of the permanent bill, the SDF personnel could be dispatched overseas at any time when needed.

Of the revisions, one would alter the law on contingencies in areas surrounding Japan, removing the geographical constraint and allowing the SDF to extend logistic support not only to U.S. forces but also to other foreign militaries.

Another revision would allow Japan to exercise, on a limited scope, the right to collective self-defense, or coming to the aid of allies under armed attack even if Japan itself is not attacked.

The Cabinet is expected to submit those bills to the Diet Friday. As Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito hold a majority of the seats, they are likely to pass the Diet in summer.

Those bills' enactment would mean that Abe government's right- leaning security policies, including lifting the ban on collective self-defense, revising Japan-U.S. defense security cooperation guideline as well as expanding the SDF's overseas activities, will get a guarantee in law, a total overturn of Japan's post-war exclusively defense-orientated policies.

Abe government's move has triggered strong opposition. More than 500 people have gathered in front of the prime minister's office to protest since Thursday morning.

Some opposition lawmakers strongly criticized those bills. " They are war legislations that allow Japan to engage overseas warfare. They undermine Japan's pacifist Constitution," Yoshiki Yamashita, head of Japanese Communist Party's secretariat said.

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News Analysis: Abe tests water for August WWII 70th anniversary speech in U.S. visit

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Burundi rivals battle for control of capital after coup attempt

Violence flares across Bujumbura a day after former intelligence chief attempts to oust President Pierre Nkurunziza

Anti-government protesters in Bujumbura on Thursday. Photograph: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

A protester is detained near a burning barricade. Photograph: Reuters--protester prepares a petrol bomb in Bujumbura. Photograph: Reuters

Abigail Higgins in Bujumbura and David SmithAfrica correspondent0-

Thursday 14 May 2015

Rival military groups have been battling for control of the Burundi capital, a day after a former intelligence chief staged an attempted coup against President Pierre Nkurunziza.

Heavy gunfire rang out from the direction of the ruling CNDD-FDD party headquarters in Bujumbura, which witnesses said were being guarded by police. It was difficult to determine who was in control of the capital, with periods of relative calm broken by bouts of gunfire in the evening.

Burundi Rivals Battle for Control of Capital After Coup Attempt by Thavam Ratna

‘How Could a Train Derail in a Democratic Country?’

Chinese web users took the Amtrak crash as an opportunity to throw criticism of China’s government back in America’s face.

 

BY BETHANY ALLEN-EBRAHIMIAN-MAY 14, 2015

On the evening of May 12, an Amtrak train carrying commuters from Washington, DC, to New York derailed, killing seven and injuring more than 200. To some, the deadly accident highlights the dangers posed by America’s crumbling and underfunded infrastructure, though on May 13, in a vote that had already been scheduled prior to the Amtrak crash, House Republicans voted to slash the budget for the publicly-funded railroad service by $260 million.

But Americans weren’t the only ones talking about the crash. China is home to the world’s longest high-speed rail network, built in just a decade. And while the officially communist country’s system of governance faces a bevy of international criticism for human rights violations and lack of rule of law, China’s steadily expanding infrastructure is a major point of national prestige. It’s also a major point of sensitivity; to many Chinese, the image of a train crash is deeply resonant, recalling a deadly high-speed crash in 2011 and a subsequent cover-up that cut to the heart of the legitimacy of their government. Perhaps that’s why some disgruntled Chinese web users have taken the Amtrak derailment as an opportunity to deflect criticism back on the United States.

Chinese netizens let loose the sarcasm on social media platform Weibo, parroting with apparent relish criticism, directed at China, that has been branded as Western — although much of it actually comes from Chinese reformists themselves. Though online chatter about the U.S. crash was limited, it was largely in this vein. One such criticism is that train crashes are a symptom of an inferior model of governance, often simply called a “system” in Chinese. “With such a backwards system and a backwards rail network, it would be strange if such accidents didn’t happen in the United States!” wrote one Weibo user on May 13. Another common criticism is that the Chinese government cares more about economic development, and its own survival, than the well-being of its people.  Still another feigned shock and denial, writing, “But how could a train derail in a democratic country?” And in a reference to China’s increasing number of international high-speed rail deals, one user proclaimed, in a comment that turned the U.S. save-the-world mentality on its head, “Chinese rail, it’s time to go save the American people!”

Such comments may appear to be simple schadenfreude, but they also reveal a lingering scar on China’s own national consciousness, and an ongoing debate between conservatives and reformists about the best path for China to take. In July 2011, 40 passengers were killed when two bullet trains collided in the southeastern city of Wenzhou. But government officials initially suppressed news of the crash; they even concealed one of the damaged train cars in a dirt pit, almost burying alive a three year-old girl still trapped in it. The memory of that attempt at deception hasn’t faded. On May 13, numerous Weibo users commenting on the Amtrak derailment made thinly-veiled references to the Wenzhou crash and the failed cover-up. One commentcalled on China’s pro-American liberals to “come out and cover up the scene” of the Amtrak accident. Another Weibo user fired out a series of mocking questions, writing, “Why haven’t you revealed the condition of the victims? What are you trying to hide? Who is lying?” Many believed the deadly crash was the result of a governance model which prioritized economic growth over human safety, as well as the corruption which has riddled China’s state-owned rail industry. To that, one user wrote, “A country that so disregards the safety of its people has a huge problem with its system.”

In the wake of the Amtrak tragedy, Americans got a taste of how a tragic train crash can trigger political and social controversy. In China, it dredged up memories of a years-old incident, and a simmering debate between liberals and conservatives, that’s never truly been buried.

Getty Images

Xi greets Modi in ancestral home town with eye to trade ties

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands before they hold a meeting in Xian, Shaanxi province, China, May 14, 2015.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi bows as he visits the Daxingshan Buddhist temple, in Xian, Shaanxi province, China, May 14, 2015.

BY MEGHA RAJAGOPALAN-Thu May 14, 2015

Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his ancestral home town at the start of a three-day visit to China on Thursday as the two Asian giants work to boost economic ties despite decades of mistrust.

It was the first time Xi had invited a foreign leader to his father's home province of Shaanxi, in the heart of central China, a signal that the two may set aside suspicions over a festering border issue to sign billions in trade deals.

Modi's visit reciprocated Xi's trip to India in September, when Modi took Xi to his home state of Gujurat.

"China is a huge market. As far as India is concerned, it’s a totally under-exploited market," said T.C.A. Rangachari, a former Indian ambassador to France and Germany who worked on China affairs for more than 15 years.

The sunglasses-clad Modi posed for photos near a pit of 2,000-year-old terracotta warrior sculptures in the historic northwestern city of Xian.

The two leaders also visited a pagoda connected to Xuanzang, also known as Tripitaka, the monk who brought the Buddhist sutras to China from India thousands of years ago, a spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs said via his Twitter account. Modi was given a figurine of Xuanzang.

The two sides have also agreed to speed up work on rail links in India, as China seeks to cash in on Modi's vision of a modern train system.

The long-standing Himalayan border dispute, as well as recent forays by China's navy into the Indian Ocean, have overshadowed ties in the past. Some in China, which is a strong ally of India's longtime foe Pakistan, have reacted to the visit with scepticism.

"Due to the Indian elites' blind arrogance and confidence in their democracy, and the inferiority of its ordinary people, very few Indians are able to treat Sino-Indian relations accurately, objectively and rationally," wrote Hu Zhiyong of the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences in the state-owned Global Times.

Vikas Swarup, a spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs, said via his Twitter account that "surging adoring crowds" greeted Modi in Xian, posting photos taken outside a shopping centre.

Modi is set to travel to Beijing on Friday, when he will meet Premier Li Keqiang. He will visit the economic powerhouse of Shanghai after that to meet business leaders.

(Additional reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Yemen’s humanitarian truce barely holds as violence resumes

A Yemeni man walks with his camel at a market in the southwestern the city of Taez Wednesday. Yemen’s humanitarian cease-fire came under significant strain in its first 24 hours. (Abdel Rahman Abdallah/AFP/Getty Images)

By Ahmed al-Haj May 13

SANAA, Yemen — Yemen’s humanitarian cease-fire came under significant strain in its first 24 hours Wednesday, disrupted by a Saudi-led coalition airstrike, fighting in a strategic province and shelling by coalition warships west of the port city of Aden.

The airstrike in the southern province of Abyan was in response to an attempt by the Shiite rebels — known as Houthis and widely believed to be backed by Iran — to reinforce their forces in Aden, according to Yemeni security officials. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the airstrike.

The heaviest violence on the ground was in the southwestern province of Taiz, where the rebels and their allies — forces working with ousted president Ali ­Abdullah Saleh — have for weeks been fighting forces loyal to the nation’s internationally recognized president.

Yemeni officials said the Houthis shelled residential areas in Taiz, a claim supported by an Amnesty International report.

Also in the south, officials and witnesses said coalition warships deployed off Aden shelled rebel forces that attempted to seize an area west of the city that is home to fuel tanks.

Fighting also flared elsewhere when rebels sought to storm the city of Dhale just north of Aden, firing tank shells, rockets and mortar rounds against ­positions belonging to forces loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, according to the officials and witnesses.

Saudi Arabia and its coalition of mainly Sunni Arab countries began the air campaign on March 26 to try to break the advance of the Houthis and their allies, who overran the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen late last year and have been on the offensive in the south. The Saudis and their allies are seeking the restoration of the Western-backed Hadi, who fled the country in March.

Adding a new layer to the Yemeni crisis, a senior Iranian military official warned the U.S.-backed coalition against blocking a Yemen-bound Iranian aid ship. Iranian Brig. Gen. Massoud Jazayeri warned that actions against the aid ship would not be tolerated.

“The self-restraint of the Islamic Republic of Iran is not limitless,” Jazayeri, the deputy chief of staff, told Iran’s Arabic-language al-Alam state TV. “Both Saudi Arabia and its novice rulers, as well as the Americans and others, should be mindful that if they cause trouble for the Islamic Republic with regard to sending humanitarian aid to regional countries, it will spark a fire, the putting out of which would definitely be out of their hands.”

Iran says the ship, which departed on Monday, is carrying food, medicine, tents and blankets, as well as reporters, rescue workers and peace activists. It is expected to arrive in the rebel-held port of Hodeida next week — likely after the five-day cease-fire expires.

Iran’s navy said Tuesday that it will protect the ship, and on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said Iran would not permit any country involved in the Yemen war to inspect its cargo.

— Associated Press

Banking on karma: How an abbot’s loans are aiding Thailand’s rural poor

By Kyle Lawrence Mullin May 14, 2015

Karma dictates that you get what you give. But Phra Subin Paneeto may be the first to apply that selfless Buddhist principal to the cut-throat world of commerce.

The socially conscious Thai abbot was the subject of a recent Wall Street Journal profile, which detailed how his low interest micro loans are helping impoverished villagers in the Baan Na Kluea region break free of burdensome debt. Phra Subin’s lending service, dubbed Sajja Sasom Sab, started in the early ’90s with only a few thousand baht, but has since grown into a massive, full-on philanthropic enterprise, gathering US$60 million in loans and deposits.

It works like this: 66,000 members each make monthly offerings 10-500 baht (US$0.30-$15) to Sajja Sasom Sab. Any member looking to borrow is grouped with three to five guarantors, who are also members and typically friends or family of the borrower. The borrower can then withdraw more than they contribute at an interest rate of one to two percent a month, or sometimes zero interest, depending on their adherence to Buddhist virtues like honesty and sobriety.

Phra Subin was quoted as saying: “Other financial institutions, they look at your financial records, assets and collateral. But (for us), the community will evaluate your good deeds… If you are not honest or sincere to other group members, nobody will help you when you want to borrow the money. This community will force you to practice Dharma, work hard, be honest and take responsibility. Otherwise no one will want you.”

Aside from the philosophical benefits, villagers say the system is also practically beneficial because, unlike most banks, Sajja Sasom Sab’s interest rates aren’t fixed but instead decrease the quicker borrowers settle their debts.

The article described one such borrower, Panisa Satharalai, whose father withdrew 1 million baht (US$29,297) from Sajja Sasom Sab to rebuild his family’s home. In the interim, Panisa has doubled her income by running small businesses, like homestays and catering operations, at the revamped home. She was quoted as saying: “This is a happy debt. This loan gave me a job and makes me want to get up early every morning to work hard, and it shows how united our community is. I won’t need to worry that I could not pay it back and risk losing my house and land.”

Critics point out that much of the success that such generous micro lending operations attain hinges on the charisma and hard work of the leaders Phra Subin Paneeto’s scheme, with Asian Development Bank economist Luxmon Attapich questioning: “What if they are not around anymore?” However such creative, grass roots solutions are deemed by many to be acceptable, because so much of Thailand’s low income population is trapped in debt. A 2013Economist article detailed how prevalent loan sharks are in Thailand, and how violent they can be with borrowers who are slow to repay debts set at crippling interest rates. A more recent Asian Correspondent article, meanwhile, noted that Thailand’s debt-GDP ratio is 85 percent, compared to the 2010 ratio of 60 percent, making Thailand the most debt inundated country in Southeast Asia.

And while fairer loans may be a crucial asset in Thailand’s fight against poverty, Orapan “Kate” Pratomlek, insists that it’s not enough on its own. The spokesperson for the Goodwill Group Foundation in Bangkok, said in the aforementioned article that: “The Thai government should raise wages and provide better jobs including social welfare instead of providing interest free loans.”

Taking it with a pinch of salt - the key questions

TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013

As the government again commits to reducing the amount of salt we eat, Channel 4 News looks at our love affair with the dreaded mineral.

So what does the government want to do?

Taking It With a Pinch of Salt - The Key Questions by Thavam Ratna

Amparai Tamil graduates protest against discrimination

Tamil graduates protest outside EPC office in Trincomalee (All photos: Tamil Guardian)

13 May 2015

Graduates from the Amparai district complained of discrimination by the Sri Lankan government in providing job opportunities for Tamils.

The graduates started a symbolic hunger strike outside the offices of the Eastern Provincial Council offices in Trincomalee on Wednesday morning.

Speaking to the Tamil Guardian, one graduate, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the Sri Lankan government deliberately overlooked Tamils for job opportunities.

“Although we achieve the same qualifications as Sinhala and Muslim people do, we are not offered the same jobs. The new government has not delivered any benefits for us yet,” she charged.

Jaffna graduates protest over unemployment (29 April 2015)

Graduates protest against unemployment, demand NPC takes action (28 April 2014)

Unemployed graduates protest in Batticaloa (26 January 2015)

This Divided Island review by Samanth Subramanian – Sri Lanka’s tragedy

An account of the civil war in Sri Lanka and its aftermath is all the more devastating for withholding judgment

 A Sri Lankan soldier walks among debris as the war with the Tamil Tigers came to a close. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Amit Chaudhuri-Wednesday 13 May 2015

“It is equal to living in a tragic land/ To live in a tragic time,” said Wallace Stevens in the poem “Dry Loaf”. It is about an attempt to portray a bucolic scene – “That was what I painted behind the loaf,/ The rocks not even touched by the snow” – while the exercise is transformed at every moment by the incursion of history: “It was the soldiers went marching over the rocks/ And still the birds came, came in watery flocks,/ Because it was spring and the birds had to come.” In Samanth Subramanian’s excellent account of the civil war and its aftermath in Sri Lanka, history encompasses the people who lived through that “tragic time”, and the land’s sole function is to serve as that history’s paradigm. There’s no getting away, whether you find yourself in Canada or in a time of peace.

This Divided Island Review by Samanth Subramanian – Sri Lanka’s Tragedy by Thavam Ratna

Freedom Party Blues II

Divided and confused, the SLFP is morphing into President Sirisena’s greatest vexation, with its shifting allegiances towards his predecessor, determination to scuttle his reform agenda and frustration that he has chosen to govern with their archrival UNP

14 May 2015

Mahinda Rajapaksa, defeated in an unprecedented third bid for the presidency on 8 January this year, is living in a bubble - again.
This bubble is a skillful construct of his most faithful acolytes. It is inflated by weeping masses at his door, fawning supporters dogging his every move and large, raucous crowds at rallies begging for his return to power. Acrimony between incumbent presidents and their predecessors has become something of a tradition in Sri Lankan political life. Thus, like Chandrika Kumaratunga before him, Mahinda Rajapaksa is also trailed by TV cameras and journalists, waiting for the controversial sound bite against the incumbent Government that he inevitably provides at every opportunity.

Freedom Party Blues II by Thavam Ratna

Sri Lanka: Living In A Skeptical Age

By Sarath De Alwis –-May 13, 2015 

Sarath De Alwis

“Just think, reader, what will happen to you if the truth of a mad beast overpowers the sane truth of man?” – Maxim Gorky in Untimely Thoughts”

Last week saw our genial, rustic peasant President and the patrician Prime Minister indulging in matters sublime. What emerged from it all is thatMaithripala Sirisena is clearly the representative of the purpose, the promise and the potential of the SLFP.

Both addressed a gathering of Literati at the book launch of Upul Shantha Sannasgala – Tuition Master, prolific writer, public thinker and media celebrity.

They differed greatly in style and content. The savoir faire displayed by the president in reaching the hearts and minds of a microcosm of the Sinhala speaking intelligentsia was electric in its impact. The Prime Minister cultivated, elegant and detached emerged as the affable outsider.

The contrasting approaches of the leader of the SLFP and the leader of the UNP created a palpable sense of Déjà vu. The cold war between politics of patrimony and politics of entitlement since the uprising of 1956.

The business like Prime Minster used the occasion to trace the evolution of mass media from the Ola leaf and Papyrus to Guttenberg and the Rotary press and thence to the digital age. He reminded the chosen elite gathering that it was the UNP that pioneered Television and introduced free Wi-Fi access.

                              Read More

Mullaitivu residents accuse government official of confiscating land

Photographs Tamil Guardian

 13 May 2015
Locals in the village of Oddusuddan in Mullaitivu district held a protest on Wednesday against the government's divisional secretary for the region, accusing of him of confiscating private lands belonging to residents.





The divisional secretary reportedly failed to return the land despite being apparently ordered to do so by a the local government agent, locals said.



During the protest, which took place in front of the divisional secretary's office, officials came out from within the office and threatened those taking part, demonstrators said. 

Help at last for Sri Lanka war widows

Photo: Amantha Perera/IRIN

Like many women, Kulasekran Kugamathi lost her husband during Sri Lanka's civil war

By Amantha Perera-

VAVUNIYA, 13 May 2015 (IRIN) - Almost six years after Sri Lanka’s bloody civil conflict came to an end, an underreported legacy of the fighting is finally being acknowledged: the extraordinarily high number of war widows struggling to make ends meet.

Help at Last for Sri Lanka War Widows by Thavam Ratna

Resettlement won’t affect Sampur power project, Trinco harbour - Austin 

By Shamindra Ferdinando-May 12, 2015

Eastern Province Governor Austin Fernando yesterday said that the on-going resettlement programme wouldn’t affect the proposed Sampur coal-fired power project.

Fernando insisted that the government would ensure the project would go ahead as planned.

The coal power plant is a joint venture between the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd. (NTPC) of India.

Asked whether the resettlement project would undermine existing arrangements meant to ensure security of the strategic Trincomalee harbour, the one-time Defence Secretary Fernando alleged that various interested parties were propagating lies.

The government would ensure the coal-fired project had access to all its requirements, though President Maithripala Sirisena last week revoked an earlier decision to allocate 818 acres for BOI projects. The project was vital for the national economy, Governor Fernando said, emphasizing his commitment to accelerate development projects.

Responding to another query, he said that the entire 504 acre block of land that had been allocated by the previous government for the plant would continue to be under the control of the project.

Similarly, the decision to shift a makeshift navy training facility at Sampur wouldn’t jeopardize security of the Trincomalee  harbour, Fernando, said, adding that the navy would establish a permanent base at the adjoining land. Governor Fernando said that the navy had utilized 237 acres of land previously. Although less than 200 acres had been allocated for the proposed navy training facility, it would be a much better base with all required facilities, he said.

 "The decision was made in consultation with Navy Commander Vice Admiral Jayantha Perera. Therefore, there is absolutely no basis for allegations that resettlement is taking place at the expense of national security", the Governor said.

In fact, he said the new navy facility would have access on two fronts to the sea, whereas previously there was only one.

Responding to allegations that the harbour could come under threat due to shifting of the training base, an irate Fernando said that Sampur had been under LTTE control for several years. Although the LTTE had used the area as a launching pad for attacks on naval assets and positioned Long range weapons, the army brought the area under its control in early September 2006, he said.

"In face of the threat posed by the LTTE, the military had no option but to resort to security measures. These counter measures invariably caused severe hardships to the civilian community. There cannot be any justifiable reason to deprive those who had been displaced during the conflict an opportunity to return to their land."

Governor Fernando said the fact people had been languishing in refugee camps six years after the conclusion of the conflict was nothing but a national shame. It would be pertinent to mention that the military had liberated the entire Eastern Province in mid-2007 to pave the way for resettlement, Governor said. However, the people of Sampur had been deprived of that opportunity, he said, pointing out that the issue was raised both here and overseas at various forums.

Alleging that the Opposition had been trying to portray the resettlement programme as a sell-out to the LTTE, the Governor insisted that the previous government gave up land categorised as high security zones both in the Northern and Eastern Provinces since the end of war. Some of those Sampur displaced, too, had been resettled, the official said, recollecting an assurance given by the then Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa to resettle all and adequate compensation to those deprived of their land. "We are only continuing with the UPFA’s project," Governor Fernando said, urging political parties to cooperate with the government. The official alleged that the previous government hadn’t kept an assurance given to the Supreme Court as regards the resettlement of the refugees.

Fernando said he had no option but to deny a CEB request for over 300 acres of land from Muttur for a Japanese-funded project. As the project would have affected 137 families, the government decided against releasing land for a second power project there, he said. However, the government and the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) remained committed to make way for the project.

At the conclusion of the interview, Governor Fernando pointed out that a two storeyed school building situated within the former naval training facility had remained closed for over seven years. The school hadn’t be re-opened even after the end of the conflict, Fernando, said, emphasizing the government’s commitment to restore normalcy.